Ryan Hurd Quotes

That's the wonderful thing about picking and choosing who we want to work with, because I've been in situations where I've worked with someone, and they thought they were gonna be on the cover of 'XXL' in two months. I'm like, 'That's not how it works.'

I had been writing songs for awhile - since I was 14 - and playing guitar, but I never really knew how to go about making an actual career.

I don't think people really understood what I did. And you know, in my book, 'A Helluva High Note' deals with my back story, that I was a songwriter, that I spent years trying to hone my craft and being rejected and then finally becoming a successful songwriter, record executive and publisher.

At 18, I got a publishing deal, so I was like, 'I can do this for real and not go to college.' When I was a teenager, my parents dragged me to a lot of songwriting conventions.

I expect to make a career out of country music.

Now my main goal is my solo career, so I want to keep doing that.

The business today is completely different and it's very producer driven, so that a songwriter needs to have producing chops, be a singer/songwriter, or find a singer to develop.

One not-to-be-mentioned major said they would sign me if I worked with a team of songwriters to help me finish songs, ha! Of course, in hindsight, I should've done it just to see what that would have been like.

I've watched songwriters, writers, producers, even artists that I've written hits for come and go. But to the world, it looked like Justin Bieber was my first success.

I'm so hands-on and involved in my own music that I feel like if I put the same effort into another artist, then I can definitely cultivate something great.

I wanted to become a better songwriter, so it seemed like a no-brainer to move to Nashville, where some of the best writers in the world live.

I came to realize that if I was going to succeed in the music industry, I was going to have to learn how to perform my songs myself.

This is truly a blessing. Breyon Prescott, Peter Edge and Tom Corson believe in me and have introduced me to a home that also believes and knows exactly what to do with the type of music I'm doing.

I've been here 21 years, and I literally did walk up and down Music Row trying to break into the business. I felt very free to go into any publishing company.

That folk music led to learning to play, and making things up led to what turns out to be the most lucrative part of the music business - writing, because you get paid every time that song gets played.

I always tell people that the music industry may be frustrating sometimes, but the singing never gets old. It's something I grew up doing, and I take the bitter with the sweet.

It was a pleasure to work with Destiny's Child in the beginning of their career. Working in the studio with Beyonce was a lot of fun. She's an extremely hard worker, perfectionist, and a talented writer.

And I'm working with all these great people at Sony Publishing.

Whenever I fill out the job description I put 'songwriter', never 'singer' or 'artist.' Singers come and go.

I've made a life and career as a professional musician.

I'm a songwriter and I'd love to make that a part of my career.

I think, back in the day, when I was first starting to make music, all I wanted to do was to get a record deal.

I've been through the entire gamut of the music industry - I've been playing in clubs since I was 14, and I've been on Warner Bros, on Sony - I've had lots of successes and some serious times of struggle.

Most of my friends in Nashville - almost all of them - seem to have had hits in the '70s, either as artists or songwriters or producers.

After two years in the songwriting world, I wrote 'All About That Bass.' L.A. Reid heard it and signed me as an artist.